Book-holder



(No Model.)

J. R. THOMPSON. BOOK HOLDER.

Patented Jan. 19, 1892.

Wn/m'sszs Imam I022 NITED STATES Prion.

BOOK-HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 467,317, dated January 19, 1892.

Application filed January 26, 1891. Serial No. 379,034.. (No model.)

T 66 whom it may conccrn' Be it known that I, JOSEPH Ross THOMP- SON, a citizen of the United States, residing at- Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania," have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Book-Holders, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of this invention is to provide a device for holding open a book which is strong, easily applied, and admits of the ready turning of the leaves of the book without removing or displacing the holder. In attaining this object I have made use of a flat piece of spring metal, and to it have secured centrally and at right angles to its edge a rigid finger, which is designed to be placed upon the back of a book, there being a shorter rigid finger similarly disposed at each end of the spring to overlie the open pages and hold them down. Iprefer to turn out the ends of these latter fingers for three purposes-namely, first, to admit of the ready application of the device to the leaves; second, to admit of the ready turning of the leaves, and, third, to add to the stiffness of the spring when applied with the turned-out portions against the leaves.

The principle of the invention will be described first, and then the part or improvement which I claim as. my invention will be particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, in the. two figures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is a perspective showing my holder applied to a book, and Fig. 2 is a perspective View of the holder detached.

The spring a(herein so called) is constructed of a flat piece of rather stiff spring metal, which may be bowed, and to the center thereof and at right angles to its edge is secured rigidly in any suitable manneras by rivetsa finger b of rigid substance, metal being preferred, and of fiat form. To opposite ends of the spring a and projecting therefrom in the same direction as the finger b are secured rigidlyas by rivets-the fingers o and d. These fingers are also made of flat rigid metal, and they are considerably shorter than the finger b. I prefer to turn out the ends e and f of the fingers c and cl.

The operation is as follows: The most convenient way to apply my holder is to bow the spring so as to bring the fingers o and d toward the operator, and then place the finger b on the back of the book and the fingers c and d on opposite pages, as shown in Fig. 1, although the device may be applied byplacing, say, finger c on a page, then finger b on the back, and then bowing the spring to bring finger cl over the opposite page. By drawing on the leaf downwardly and inwardly in the direction of arrow 2 the leaf may be slipped from under finger (I, turned over, and slipped under finger c in the direction of arrow 3, without removing or displacingthe holder. The turned-outends of fingers c and d and their inferior length relatively to the finger I) obviously greatly facilitate this operation, as they also facilitate the application of the holder to a book. The'power of the spring to hold open very stiff books is increased by turning the turned-out ends of the fingers toward the leaves.

The finger 1) serves, as it were, as a fulcrum for the operation of the holder.

My holder may also be used as a book-mark when applied as in Fig. 1 and when applied between the leaves.

WVhile I prefer a spring that is straight from end to end, yet I do notv limit the invention to a mathematicallystraight piece of metal.

By the term flat spring I do not mean to exclude any spring whose sides are not exactly parallel.

I do not limit my invention to any particular manner of supplying the spring with fingers.

I am aware that book holders or springs are now commonly made of wire bent to shape.

What I claim is 1. A book-holder comprising a stiff flat spring adapted to be bowed, a single central finger projecting therefrom, and end fingers also projecting from the spring in the same direction as the central finger, all of the said fingers being rigid throughout, substantially as described.

2. A book-holder comprising a stiff fiat spring adapted to be bowed, a single central finger projecting therefrom, and end fingersalso projecting from the spring in the same direction as the central finger and of inferior fingers being rigid throughout, substantially 10 as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 24th day of January, A. D. 189l JOSEPH ROSS THOMPSON.

lVitnesses:

EUGENE J. LINDSAY, W. S. OTTINGER. 

